It's a busy, big combat sports weekend in Northern Utah. On Saturday there's a UFC card in Salt Lake City. A big highlight is that Utah MMA icon Court McGee will have his final bout. McGee has excelled in combat sports since he was a high school wrestler a generation ago. He won UFC's annual Ultimate Fighter tournament in 2010 and has stayed in the top tier of mixed martial arts since. We're all rooting for Court in his final UFC bout. He fights Eric Nolan. The Delta Center card starts at 4 p.m.
Saturday afternoon in Ogden Foley's gym will have an amateur card. It starts at 2 p.m. Foley's gym itself will have about a dozen amateur boxers competing, including 168-pounder Luciano Salazar, who's hoping to continue a winning streak at Foley's gym. This reporter, Doug Gibson, will be there. It's at 375 31st Street in Ogden.
I'll also be at the Union Event Center in Salt Lake City, 235 N 500 West, Friday evening for a combat sports card from SteelFist Fight Night. The fights include: MMA, Muy Thai kickboxing; kickboxing; and submission-only. Above on the graphic is the main event. It's for the promotion's amateur middleweight title, matching Alex Johnson, 4-0, of Mori Academy, versus John Henderson, 4-3, of Nevada Jiu-Jitsu. A bantamweight amateur title bout match matches Aaron Jennings versus Angel Diaz.
For information on more fights on the card, and ticket information, go to SteelFist's website here. Bouts start at 7 p.m. You can buy tickets at the SteelFist site.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article (link here) about a submission-only 8-minute pro bout between former MMA pros John Valentine (I interviewed John) and Sooksan Simpleman. I loved watching both compete in the past. This bout is part of the Forever Now effort to raise funds for a memorial to the 58 people tragically killed, and many more injured, by a gunman in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017. The aforementioned, linked article, has information on how to donate to Forever One and/or apply part of your SteelFist ticket price to the memorial.
-- Utah Fight Game
